The Fire Emblem universe (ファイアーエムブレム, Fire Emblem) refers to the Super Smash Bros. series' collection of characters, stages, and properties hailing from Nintendo and Intelligent Systems's long-running franchise of fantasy tactical role-playing games. This long-running franchise, which is considered by many as the quintessential strategy RPG series in Japan, consists of sixteen core installments (including three remakes) and four spinoffs. Until the early 2000s, every new installment had only previously seen releases in that region, with Nintendo declining to localize abroad until two of the series's protagonists, Marth and Roy, appeared as playable characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Their appearance in the game sparked enough global interest for the series to begin international distribution. Since then, Fire Emblem as a franchise began to grow and expand beyond its foundations, with the protagonist of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Ike, appearing in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In Super Smash Bros. 4, they were joined by Lucina and Robin from Fire Emblem Awakening and Corrin from Fire Emblem Fates. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, they were joined by Chrom from Fire Emblem Awakening and Byleth from Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

During the early years of Nintendo as a game developer in the 1980s, software programmer Toru Narihiro was hired by Nintendo to port Famicom Disk System software to the standard ROM cartridge that was used outside of Japan on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Narihiro would assemble a small team of other programmers to help port software, as well as to provide programming support for many of Nintendo's games. This team would be officially founded as Intelligent Systems in 1986. In addition to providing programming support, Intelligent Systems would soon begin developing their own games which were designed to be drastically different from the standard Nintendo faire; they would almost immediately become a second-party developer for Nintendo and release exclusively on their platforms from then on.

Though Intelligent Systems programmed various games of all kinds for Nintendo, the first game in their transition to simulation-based games was Famicom Wars, a turn-based strategy game set in modern military times and the first entry in what would become the Nintendo Wars series. Following that title's success, Intelligent Systems programmer Shouzou Kaga would pitch a personal project of his to Nintendo, which was a strategy game similar to Famicom Wars, but combined various Japanese role-playing game elements and a medieval fantasy setting, all of which were heavily popularized by Dragon Quest at the time. Kaga's project, and the first title in what would become Intelligent Systems' long-running strategy RPG franchise, was Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, released for the Famicom in Japan in 1990. Though it was both one of the earliest games in the turn-based strategy genre and one of the first such games to incorporate JRPG elements, the game was met with flat initial sales and reception. This, taken together with how the original Final Fantasy did not sell well in Western markets at the time, prompted Nintendo to decide not to release the game to Western markets. It would take at least two months for Japanese sales to improve strictly from the spreading of word-of-mouth, leading Intelligent Systems to release a number of follow-up installments under the Fire Emblem moniker. All of these future titles remained exclusive to Japan and brought with them their own innovations to the franchise: Fire Emblem Gaiden for the Famicom in 1992 introduced an overworld map and told two parallel stories; Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem for the Super Famicom in 1994 streamlined the user interface and picked up immediately after the events of the original game; Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War for the Super Famicom in 1996 allowed units to pair off and bear powerful offspring and introduced skills and the Weapon Triangle; and Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 for the Super Famicom in 1999 fleshed out weapon proficiencies and introduced fatigue and the "Fog of War" battle conditions. Between the releases of the latter two titles were a short series of downloadable maps for the Japan-only Satellaview peripheral, called BS Fire Emblem, or Fire Emblem: Archanea Saga. After the release of Thracia 776, Kaga left his position at Intelligent Systems to start his own studio and a similar series to Fire Emblem, a development which would result in a bitter lawsuit and estrangement between him and Nintendo. Meanwhile, the franchise was taken over under the direction of Narihiro for the foreseeable future.

While Super Smash Bros. Melee was under development for the GameCube, HAL Laboratory answered Japanese fan requests to include the main character from the first Fire Emblem continuity, the swordsman and hero-prince Marth, as a playable character after failing to include him in the Nintendo 64 title due to time constraints. At the time, Intelligent Systems was deep into development of the sixth Fire Emblem title, The Binding Blade, for the Game Boy Advance, and HAL Laboratory took the Fire Emblem representation a step further by including its main character, Roy, as another playable character in Melee to promote the upcoming game. Nintendo of America was initially apprehensive about keeping these two then-unfamiliar fantasy swordsmen as playable combatants in the North American release, but enough Western players previewing the game during debug testing expressed interest in them that it was decided to keep them in, while only leaving their voices in Japanese.

The decision revolutionized the series's global presence. Marth and Roy were among the most popular characters in Melee worldwide (the former particularly in the competitive scene), and this popularity, in tandem with the unprecedented Western success of Advance Wars, were the driving forces behind Nintendo's decision to localize and release nearly every subsequent Fire Emblem title worldwide. This began with the 2003 Game Boy Advance prequel to The Binding Blade, simply titled Fire Emblem outside of Japan (and given the subtitle Rekka no Ken in its Japanese version, officially translated as "The Blazing Blade"). Internationally released entries since then include Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones for Game Boy Advance in early 2005, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance for GameCube in late 2005, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn for Wii in 2007, and Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon for Nintendo DS in 2009. The only Fire Emblem title not released internationally since The Binding Blade was New Mystery of the Emblem for the DS in 2010.

After what amounted to a four-year hiatus from a Western perspective, a new entry was released worldwide as Fire Emblem Awakening on Nintendo 3DS in 2012 in Japan and 2013 overseas. Due to the waning interest and dwindling commercial sales of Fire Emblem titles, the team was informed that Awakening would be the last game in the franchise if it did not perform well. In response, the developers sought to make this title a culmination of the series up to that point, incorporating elements and mechanics from throughout the series's history such as marriage and children, online battles, the Weapon Triangle, a player avatar, and Casual Mode. Contrary to expectations the game was released to widespread success, selling over 250,000 copies within its first week and over a million copies worldwide, subsequently revitalizing interest in the Fire Emblem franchise more than ever before. This resulted in subsequent titles riding the wave of success that Awakening started.

Almost immediately, Nintendo requested a sequel to be developed for the 3DS due to Awakening's unprecedented success. The core team who worked on Awakening was brought back and sought to improve and expand upon that game's foundations. A central goal of this new project was to provide a narrative from both sides of a conflicting war, a goal that would entail three cartridges' worth of gameplay content. Fire Emblem Fates was revealed for the Nintendo 3DS in January 2015 and released in Japan on June 25th of the same year, with the game receiving overseas releases the following year. Unlike any previous installment, the game was released in three versions — Birthright, Conquest, and Revelation — with each version focusing on a different facet of the conflict between the royal families of Hoshido and Nohr. All three versions retain the same world and cast of characters, but had different recruitable units and approaches to difficulty: Birthright being the easiest, Conquest being the hardest, and Revelation serving as a middle ground between the two. Both this and the previous installment were also known for heavily incorporating downloadable content, which consisted of additional maps, story scenarios, and recruitable units to further replayability. Fates went on to see as much commercial success as its predecessor across all three versions, even going so far as for Nintendo to declare the series a "major IP" for the company.[1]

In January 2017, four additional Fire Emblem games were announced: Fire Emblem Heroes, a mobile title bringing together characters from all corners of the series's history; Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, a remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden from the ground up for the Nintendo 3DS (and additionally the final mainline title for the system); Fire Emblem Warriors, a hack-and-slash spinoff in the vein of the Zelda spinoff Hyrule Warriors for the Nintendo Switch and New Nintendo 3DS systems; and a new core series installment due for release on the Nintendo Switch, later revealed to be Fire Emblem: Three Houses, which would release worldwide on July 26th, 2019. The last title marks the mainline series's first return to home consoles since Radiant Dawn over a decade prior and would be its first appearance on an HD platform. The development of Three Houses was assisted by Koei Tecmo and the scope of the narrative was directly inspired by the fourth entry, Genealogy of the Holy War. On release, the game secured the franchise's widespread appeal by becoming the single best-selling entry in the series worldwide to date, with the strongest launch sales in series history and over 2.58 million copies sold by the end of the year.

As a series of strategy RPGs set in pseudo-medieval, sword-and-sorcery fantasy settings, the many Fire Emblem games share a variety of distinctive series trademarks; there is less emphasis on complex field effects and unique class ability sets and more of an emphasis on effectively positioning stronger and weaker units relative to each other so that they have the best chances to survive waves of weaker enemy units thrown at them. Leveling up from experience points tends to award incremental statistical boosts based on chance, and units are often able to reliably kill certain types of enemy units one at a time depending on the types and properties of the multiple weapons they can equip (weapons that often interact in rock-paper-scissors relationships and have their own durability meters). Units that fight near each other are often granted the opportunity to deepen their emotional bonds, which sometimes bloom into romantic relationships and affect their personal endings at the end of the main story. What is easily the most oft-noted convention in the series (and by extension most Nintendo properties) is "permanent death", colloquially known as "permadeath"; when one of the player's units has fallen in battle, that character is gone for the rest of the game never to return, which can potentially have serious effects on the story itself (and in some cases, the player's capacity to finish the game). Starting with the twelfth entry, the series began to offer an alternative "Casual" mode that breaks away from this norm, so that characters do not permanently die from falling in battle and are allowed to fight again in future battles.

Fire Emblem narratives are often broad sweeping epics, filled with particularly high amounts of character interaction in later games, that typically focus on a young warrior and noble finding his place in a self-contained continent where countries and nations engage in war and competitions of political intrigue. This main character, often assigned the "Lord" class in-game, gathers literally dozens of distinctive characters into a growing, personalized "army" that fights alongside him in skirmishes during his journeys across the continent. Over a dozen games have been released, and they take place within at least five separate timelines and continuities — "sub-universes" that have nothing to do with each other — typically defined by the main, isolated continent the game takes place on. Unless otherwise indicated, each subsequent installment introduces a new cast of characters to recruit to one's party much like Pokémon. One of the common elements between these separate stories is how they often involve an important plot device dubbed the "Fire Emblem", which differs in form and relevance between each continuity.

Archanea and Valentia: The original Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light introduces the continent of Archanea and depicts the noble Prince Marth's quest to defeat the dark mage Gharnef and his plot to resurrect the Shadow Dragon Medeus. The first half of the third game, Mystery of the Emblem, is a remake of this story segment, and so is the eleventh game as a whole, Shadow Dragon. The second half of Mystery of the Emblem, taking place years later, pits Marth against Gharnef and Medeus once again after one of his previous allies gets corrupted. The twelfth game as a whole, New Mystery of the Emblem, is a remake of this story segment and incorporates elements from the Japan-only Satellaview game BS Fire Emblem. Separately, the continent Valentia is the setting of the second game, Gaiden, due west of Archanea across the sea; two lifelong friends, Alm and Celica, discover the truths of their heritages amidst a war between Valentia's two nations: Zofia and Rigel. The fifteenth entry in the series, Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is a remake of Gaiden. The thirteenth game, Fire Emblem Awakening, depicts this same world millennia after Marth's adventures on Archanea, where Archanea has since been renamed Ylisse and Valentia has since been renamed Valm. A distant descendant to the legendary hero Marth, Prince Chrom, regularly leads a peacekeeping force for his halidom called the Shepherds, but two companions he comes across on separate occasions — a masked individual named directly after Marth and a tactician representing the player himself/herself — accompany him into a quest against the world's destiny. Regardless of the game set in this Fire Emblem world, the eponymous "Fire Emblem" is a legendary shield, inlaid with five gemstones. This is a complement to the revered blade of light, Falchion.

Jugdral: The fourth game, Genealogy of the Holy War, is technically a distant prequel set thousands of years before the first three games on a continent in the same world, but Jugdral is far removed from anything to do with the continents listed above—in fact, Jugdral has its own "Fire Emblem", which is the crest of one particular duchy. Therefore, this is for most intents and purposes counted as its own continuity. The first half of the game deals with Lord Sigurd of Chalphy's affairs during his campaigns on the behalf of Grannvale in a war that has divided the continent, but his story is cut short as he is betrayed and murdered by Lord Arvis of Velthomer. In the second half of the game, taking place seventeen years later, it falls to his son, Seliph, to liberate the continent from the grasp of Grannvale, which is now ruled in all but name by Arvis's son Prince Julius, a puppet of the dark god Loptous. Meanwhile, the fifth game, Thracia 776, is an interquel taking place during the previous game's "second generation", during the in-universe year 776, focusing on Prince Leif's personal quest to take back his homeland from the invading nation of Thracia.

Elibe: The first continent introduced that has no canonical ties with the world or continents listed above. The seventh game, Fire Emblem (The Blazing Blade), depicts the son of a marquess, Eliwood, and his two companions Lyn and Hector, going on a journey along the lower half of Elibe to find his missing father and take the battle against the dark conspiracy he discovers. Twenty years later in the sixth game, The Binding Blade, Eliwood's fifteen-year-old son, Roy, embarks on his own campaign across the continent to battle the now-twisted king of the militant nation of Bern, Zephiel, whose campaign to dominate all the nations of Elibe bears down on Roy's nation. The "Fire Emblem" in this continuity is a royal seal required to assume Bern's throne, unlock the titular Binding Blade, and seal the demon dragon Idunn.

Magvel: The eighth game, The Sacred Stones, tells the story of the twin nobles Ephraim and Eirika, who lose their father when eight hundred years of peace between the five primary nations on Magvel is shattered by one of them, Grado, launching a sudden war against the rest in an effort to destroy each nation's guarded Sacred Stone. The twins go on simultaneous quests to defeat Grado and get to the bottom of its mysterious motives. Grado's own Sacred Stone is the "Fire Emblem" in this continuity.

Tellius: The ninth game, Path of Radiance, is set on a continent populated not only by separate beorc (human) nations, but by multiple nations of separate species of form-shifting laguz (demi-humans) as well. When the mad king Ashnard of Daein invades Crimea, the low-birth mercenary Ike and his group are hired by the Crimean princess Elincia to avenge her country and bring Ashnard down, and it is up to Ike to forge important bonds between nations in order to do so. The tenth game, Radiant Dawn, continues and concludes the saga two years later, at first from the perspective of a Daein girl named Micaiah, who assists in a Daein brigade's efforts to liberate the country from harsh imperial rule that had been imposed over it following Ashnard's defeat. Following this, a new war between beorc and laguz breaks out that pits Ike and his current companions against some of his former allies, as well as against Micaiah's side. The "Fire Emblem" of this universe is a medallion containing the spirit of a dark god that may risk being awakened by the miasma of war.

Fates: The fourteenth installment, Fire Emblem Fates, is set on an unnamed continent. Before the events of the game, the main protagonist (an Avatar of the player) is born to the Kingdom of Hoshido but kidnapped by the Kingdom of Nohr at a young age and raised there. Several years later, as Nohr declares war on its neighboring kingdom of Hoshido, the Avatar is forced to choose between siding with Nohr and the family that raised them, siding with Hoshido and the family that they never knew, or siding with neither family, not wishing to hurt either and constantly struggle to unite the two kingdoms. If the Avatar sides with Hoshido, they will fend off Nohrian invaders to defend their homeland and defeat the corrupt Nohrian king. If the Avatar sides with Nohr, they will assist in the invasion of Hoshido as well as attempt to revolutionize the unruly Nohrian kingdom from within. If the Avatar sides with neither kingdom, they will attempt to unite both kingdoms once they learn of a larger looming threat among many other previously unknown secrets. The "Fire Emblem" of this continuity is the Omega Yato, the final form of the legendary Yato blade wielded by the Avatar during the events of the third campaign, Revelation.

Fódlan: The sixteenth game, Three Houses, is set on a continent overseen by the Church of Seiros, a divine entity that exercises great control over the land and people below. The land is shared amongst three ruling powers: the millennium-old Adrestian Empire, the frigid and holy Kingdom of Faerghus, and an oligarchy called the Leicester Alliance. After a chance encounter with the three house leaders, the player character assumes the role of a professor to students of one of these houses at the Officers Academy at Garreg Mach Monastery before reuniting with the other houses five years later. These houses are the Black Eagles led by Edelgard, the Blue Lions led by Dimitri, and the Golden Deer led by Claude. The "Fire Emblem" of this continuity is the Crest of Flames, one of twenty-two hereditary birthmarks that serves as a blessing and manifestation of the goddess Sothis's power.

While there was no Fire Emblem content in the first Super Smash Bros. game, according to an interview from "Making of Fire Emblem: 25 Years of Development Secrets", Masahiro Sakurai wanted to include Marth as a playable character to serve as something of a foil to Link, but was unable to do so due to time constraints.

Fire Emblem is featured in Super Smash Bros. Melee by two playable characters, their respective game trophy sets, appropriate musical and sound selections in the sound test; this stands in contrast to other franchises which additionally have stages, items and more trophies as well. There is evidence that a Fire Emblem stage was planned, however; hidden in the game's debug menu is a stage entitled AKANEIA, named after the fictional continent where Marth's story takes place, but it was apparently never designed or removed completely, as attempting to access it from the debug menu will only crash the game. Additionally, at the time of Melee's release, no Fire Emblem title had been released outside of Japan, making Marth and Roy the first Japan-only characters to appear in the Super Smash Bros. series, both coincidentally as secret characters.

Marth: The young, noble prince of the kingdom of Altea, Marth is forced to become an exile in the neighboring nation of Talys when the kingdom of Dolhr attacks Altea, killing his father Cornelius and taking his sister hostage. He embarks on a quest with help of his various allies to find the sacred blade of light known as the Falchion and the Fire Emblem shield, as well as restoring his war-torn kingdom and rescuing his sister. When he does find the two pieces of equipment, he takes the fight to the driving force behind the Dolhr invasion, the evil priest Gharnef and his resurrection of the dark dragon, Medeus. He slays them and rescues both his sister and the continent of Archanea. As a Melee fighter, Marth is widely considered top-tier for his effective blend of speedy and powerful swordsmanship, with an effective "sweetspot" at the tip of his Falchion. He is the fan-favorite character among many top players. His effectiveness as a fighter as well as his decidedly bishounen character design have contributed to his status as one of Melee's most popular characters.

Roy: The star of the sixth Fire Emblem game, The Binding Blade, Roy is the son of Eliwood, one of the stars of the game's prequel, living and studying in a kingdom far from his homeland, Pherae. He is an upstanding, idealistic, and ever-curious individual like other Fire Emblem protagonists and is also rather perceptive and cunning for his age. When the militant nation of Bern wages war on the alliance of nations called the League of Lycia, of which Roy's Pherae is a part of and when Eliwood falls ill, he is called in to lead Pherae's armies in his ailing father's stead. He ends up going on a grand journey across the continent of Elibe and learning of the Fire Emblem crest, which is necessary for unlocking the Binding Blade. He goes to obtain the two artifacts and takes the conflict to Bern's King Zephiel to stop his mysterious thirst for world domination, an effort that would eventually avert a catastrophic war between humans and dragons. As a Melee fighter, Roy is a slower clone of Marth, but his forward smash is more powerful at the center of his blade. He is made to be a good character to use against opponents in one-on-one matchups, but he remains lower on the tier list than Marth because he lacks Marth's vital advantages. Even though Roy is considered low-tier by many competitive players, his fanbase is still quite large.

33: Fire Emblem: A medley of two Fire Emblem tracks, the first of which is the "character recruitment" music in Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light and Mystery of the Emblem, and after some piano-based music, the second tune is the official Fire Emblem series theme. This is heard as a secondary track on Temple and is often heard accompanying Marth and Roy in the single-player modes.

48: Fire Emblem Series Victory: The victory fanfare for Marth and Roy is the last line from the aforementioned "character recruitment" theme and can be heard as the last line in "33: Fire Emblem", before the music loops back to the beginning.

Perhaps in response to Fire Emblem garnering popularity worldwide, the series continues to be represented in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Marth returns, with newcomer Ike unofficially replacing Roy as the second playable Fire Emblem character, although Roy does make a cameo as a sticker. The Fire Emblem content has been greatly expanded from Melee, now featuring the first fully playable Fire Emblem stage and many new music tracks and collectables that span from the very first game up to the then-most recent installment, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.

Marth: The original Fire Emblem lord returns in Brawl, once again as a secret fighter. His design is slightly modified and he has a few new voice clips, though most are reprises from Melee. While his moveset is mostly unchanged, his Shield Breaker has been altered from a slashing maneuver to a stabbing move and also has a faster charge-up time. His Final Smash is the most powerful Final Smash in the game, inflicting 60% damage and OHKOing opponents.

Ike: The main character of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and its sequel, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Ike is shown in his Ranger outfit from the beginning of his first game. He comes armed with his two-handed Regalia blade, Ragnell, with which due to his sheer strength he needs only one hand to wield efficiently. His strength is present in his optimal playstyle, as unlike most swordfighters in the Super Smash Bros. series, he focuses less on speed and more on power and a fierce punish game. Ike is able to use his Aether skill as his up special move, which involves him throwing his sword into the air, jumping up and catching it, then bringing the sword crashing down on his opponent. His Final Smash is an enhanced version of Aether.

On the final character select screen (after all characters are unlocked), the Fire Emblem characters occupy the eighth column alongside the EarthBound characters (both of these series were originally Japan-only RPG franchises that later saw at least one entry released in the West).

Lyn: A major character from Fire Emblem (The Blazing Blade). She charges her blade, then vanishes and reappears while precisely slashing the opponent that is closest to her. Requires a well-timed roll or airdodge to avoid the precise slash.

Castle Siege: Contrary to much speculation when the stage was first shown in trailers, this stage does not represent any specific Fire Emblem title or moment, but rather the series as a whole by a composition of themes and motifs from throughout the series. The stage takes place on top of a castle under attack. As time passes, the roof will collapse and fighters will be able to battle in the castle's interior throne room, which features destructible statues. After yet more time passes, the ground will give way and players will fall into the underground, which consists of a dark cavern filled with lava. After some time in the underground, the locale will reset to the top of the castle again and the cycle begins anew.

The Fire Emblem series had undergone a heavier boost in representation than ever before in the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS games. In total, there are the Brawl veterans with visual updates, a lost veteran returning as downloadable content, and the addition of three newcomers (the most newcomers any universe has in the game), all of them being relatively modern in the franchise's history and one of them being DLC as well. All past Smash Bros. stages from this series, the majority of soundtracks and other collectibles have remained largely intact and were further expanded in the new games.

Marth: Marth returns and, for the first time, is a starter character. His design derives from his appearance in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and New Mystery of the Emblem.[2] Overall, Marth was previously considered to be one of the characters to have been the most severely nerfed in the transition to Smash 4 (along with Meta Knight, King Dedede, Falco, and Olimar), though game updates brought useful buffs that significantly increased his effectiveness, while his key strengths from his previous two iterations were retained, albeit to a lesser extent. While he is still nerfed from Brawl overall, the changes to the game's mechanics benefit him (despite receiving some noticeable nerfs from them), and most other returning veterans who were in Brawl's higher tiers saw a similar treatment, which has lead to him being similarly effective relative to the cast, and he is still be considered as a viable character in Smash 4's metagame.

Roy: After an absence from Brawl, Roy returns as DLC in Smash 4, making him the third veteran to return from Melee after Dr. Mario and Mewtwo. His design now blends elements from his original appearance in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade and his appearance as an Einherjar in Fire Emblem Awakening. Roy was notably buffed in his transition, now surpassing Marth in overall speed, but has received nerfs as well, especially to the range on the Binding Blade, which overall give him a more distinct play-style than his base character Marth. He also received updated voice clips and many animation changes that further negate his prior status as a clone of Marth, now appearing as a near semi-clone instead.

Ike: Ike returns from Brawl as a starter character. His visual design has been updated to match his appearance in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn along with his attacks now having updated sound effects that are still primarily unique to him. Being notably buffed from Brawl, many of his moves have been given greater power, speed, or overall utility, and Ike is no longer one of the slowest characters in the game. His Great Aether, however, was noticeably toned down to compensate for these buffs. His sword attacks that involve fire now have blue flames instead of red, true to Radiant Dawn.

Lucina: Lucina, Chrom's daughter and a major protagonist from Fire Emblem Awakening, arrives as an unlockable newcomer. She is a clone of Marth, but lacks his sword tipper mechanic (sans down aerial). Thus, every part of her sword deals the same amount of damage, making her overall KO ability much more consistent, if potentially weaker, than Marth's. She is slightly shorter than Marth, giving her a slightly smaller hurtbox than him, but not as much reach on her sword, the Parallel Falchion. She was originally planned to be an alternate swap for Marth, similar to Alph and Olimar.

Robin: the player avatar from Fire Emblem Awakening, defaulted as Robin, debuts in the Super Smash Bros. series as a starter newcomer. Robin fights using several different magical Tomes and an electrified Levin Sword, all having a durability system and the capacity to break as seen in Fire Emblem Awakening. Thus, Robin's playstyle requires management and proper usage of their limited uses in order to maximize their effects. Players can choose to use either the male or female variants of this character and Chrom makes an appearance in his Final Smash.

Corrin: the player avatar and protagonist of Fire Emblem Fates, defaulted as Corrin, makes their Super Smash Bros. series debut as a downloadable newcomer. As with Robin, Corrin has both male and female variants to choose from. Corrin can transform all or parts of their body into a dragon, in conjunction with attacks using the divine blade Omega Yato.

Chrom Outfit (DLC): this outfit is based on Chrom, one of the protagonists in Fire Emblem Awakening. During the development of SSB4, it was widely speculated that Chrom would be included as a playable newcomer and was even included in the infamous Gematsu leak. Ultimately, Chrom only appears as a component of Robin's Final Smash, but he remains a popular Fire Emblem character.[3] The outfit was released with a corresponding blue wig as downloadable content on July 31, 2015. The Mii wields Falchion. An official Mii based on Chrom's likeness can be downloaded via QR code on the official site.

Lyn: a nomadic lord from Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade. In Smash, she wields her personal blade Mani Katti. When summoned, she braces herself, vanishes, and slashes the nearest opponent. She does not attack the summoner. Lyn is one of the few Assist Trophies to return from Brawl.

Arena Ferox: staged on a gladiatorial combat arena in the Regna Ferox nation from Fire Emblem Awakening. Like Pokémon Stadium, Arena Ferox is a transforming stage with platforms that rise from the ground and an abyss surrounding the central arena. The stone figures from Castle Siege appear as one of the variants. It is one of the possible stages to appear in Level 7 of All-Star Mode as a home stage for Robin, Lucina, and Corrin. Its Ω form is columnar. It was the first piece of Fire Emblem content revealed for SSB4, appearing in the 1st Trailer at E3 2013. It later appears in "By Book, Blade, and Crest of Flame", the reveal trailer for Robin and Lucina. It is the only stage to derive from a specific Fire Emblem game.

Coliseum: a spacious combat arena derived from various locations in the Fire Emblem series. Like Pokémon Stadium and Arena Ferox, it is a transforming stage with different sets of rising platforms appearing as the battle progresses. Like Wii Fit Studio, there are no abysses on the stage, just walk-off boundaries. It is one of the possible stages to appear in Level 1 of All-Star Mode as a home stage for Robin, Lucina, and Corrin. Its Ω form is columnar.

Castle Siege: a transitionary stage derived from various motifs in the Fire Emblem series. It consists of three phases: the first is staged on the top of the titular castle as it is under attack before transitioning to the castle's interior. The third phase is staged deep underground on a precarious platform, high above a sea of lava. It has received subtle graphical revisions in its transition from Brawl. This stage is large enough to accommodate 8-Player Smash and is one of the possible stages to appear in Level 2 of All-Star Mode as a home stage for Ike and Roy. Its Ω form is columnar.

Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem Medley: a medley of pieces from Mystery of the Emblem, including "Advance", "Attack", "Defense", and "Fire Emblem Theme". It plays on Coliseum.

Meeting Theme Series Medley: a medley of recruitment themes from multiple Fire Emblem titles. It includes "Meeting Theme" from Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light interlaced with "Comrades" from The Sacred Stones and "Recruitment / Join Us!", the recruitment theme from Genealogy of the Holy War and The Binding Blade. It plays on Coliseum.

Lost in Thoughts All Alone (DLC): an instrumental remix of "Lost in Thoughts All Alone", the main theme of Fire Emblem Fates. It is bundled with Corrin and cannot be acquired individually. It plays on Smash Run, Castle Siege, and Coliseum. This song was featured in the trailer "Corrin Chooses to Smash!"

Fire Emblem: an arrangement containing "Meeting Theme" and "Fire Emblem Theme" from Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light. It plays on Arena Ferox and Castle Siege. This song was featured in the trailer "By Book, Blade, and Crest of Flame".

Fire Emblem Theme: an arrangement of "Fire Emblem Theme" from Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, but it is attributed to the entire series as a reoccurring piece. It includes Latin vocals, similar to the televised Japanese commercial for Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light. They are provided by Oriko Takahashi and Ken Nishikiori. It plays on Castle Siege.

Shadow Dragon Medley: a medley of pieces from Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, including "Battle Map 2: CP Side's Attack", "Story 2: The Beginning of Each Map", and "Battle Map 1: Player Side's Attack". It plays on Castle Siege.

Id (Purpose): an abridged version of "Id (Purpose)" from Awakening. It plays on Arena Ferox and Coliseum. It is featured on Disc 1 of A Smashing Soundtrack.

Lost in Thoughts All Alone (DLC): the main theme of Fire Emblem Fates. It includes vocals provided by Rena Strober as Azura in English releases and Renka in Japanese releases. It plays on Castle Siege and Coliseum.

The series has seen a considerable boost in representation, incorporating elements from the post-Fire Emblem Fates titles. This is the first title since Melee where none of the Fire Emblem fighters are unlocked from the start. For the first time, the series has an item represented in the game in the form of the Killing Edge. All past stages and music tracks return plus a deluge of remixes, as well as the introduction of two new fighters (one an Echo Fighter and one downloadable content), two new Assist Trophies, and Spirits from across the series. Lastly, all of the fighters now speak English in overseas versions.

Marth: The original Lord and Hero-King from Archanea returns as an unlockable fighter after being a starter in Smash 4. Overall Marth is generally agreed to be inferior to all three of his derivatives by top-level players, with Lucina being generally regarded as vastly superior to Marth overall. Due to Lucina's dominance and Marth's almost non-existent results, he is almost viewed as an "invalidated" character with many top players ranking him noticeably lower than Lucina on their tier list; often ranking him as a high or mid tier character. Much like Meta Knight and Villager, Marth's tools that helped him do fairly well in tournaments have been either removed or made worse. He is now fully voiced in English by Yuri Lowenthal.

25.

Roy: The Young Lion from Elibe returns as an unlockable fighter after being DLC in Smash 4. Roy was infamous for being the lowest-ranked DLC character in Smash 4, due to his poor, committal approach, unsafe aerials, along with his hilt sweetspot attribute hindering his spacing abilities, which has collectively resulted in his lower-mid tier placement in said game and having very little tournament representation. As a result, Roy has been significantly buffed in his transition to Ultimate. Overall, Roy is considered to be more viable and much less polarizing than he was in any of his previous playable appearances, due to him now having enough raw power, range, and speed to play aggressively up close. Because of these changes, he commands a sizable playerbase and strong tournament results. He is now fully voiced in English by Ray Chase.

32.

Ike: The Radiant Hero of Tellius returns as an unlockable fighter after being a starter in Smash 4. Both his Path of Radiance Ranger design and his Radiant Dawn Hero design return, with the ranger design being the default. Both versions are now voiced in English by Greg Chun with their own exclusive voice clips.

21ε.

Lucina: The future Princess of Ylisse returns once again being an unlockable character, now branded as an Echo Fighter of Marth. Like Marth, Lucina received a mixture of buffs and nerfs, but unlike him, she was buffed overall. Lucina highly benefits from the universal changes in Ultimate, particularly in terms of her tilts and aerials. In addition, the new engine is also a benefit to Lucina's balanced blade, to an extent far greater than Marth's more polarized blade, as the faster pace of the game allows her greater close-combat capabilities to be an advantage in certain situations. Overall, Lucina has been a very high-placing character in Ultimate's early metagame, with impressive results and excellent representation. As such, she is generally considered to be significantly superior to Marth, who has had lackluster results and representation and is also generally regarded as the best swordfighter in the game.

56.

Robin: The tactician returns as an unlockable fighter after being a starter in Smash 4. As before, both male and female versions can be selected. One fundamental change is that Robin now does not immediately have the Levin Sword and must wait a short while before it becomes active. Finally, a new meter has been added to more clearly show how much Robin can use the Levin Sword and Tomes, with a separate meter for each.

62.

Corrin: The heir of two families returns as an unlockable fighter after being DLC in Smash 4. A handful of moves such as jab, pummel, and Dragon Lunge have been slightly reworked, but Corrin otherwise performs similarly to Smash 4. As before, both male and female versions can be selected.

25ε.

Chrom: The Prince of Ylisse and main protagonist of Fire Emblem Awakening debuts as an unlockable Echo Fighter of Roy. Despite this, he still appears in Robin's Final Smash and victory screens, and does not have the exact same moveset as Roy, instead taking cues from the other Fire Emblem fighters; his sword lacks a sweetspot like Lucina's, his up special is adapted from Ike's, his sword attacks lack fire effects, and his Final Smash, Awakening Aether, is functionally different from Roy's.

75.

Byleth: The Ashen Demon from Fódlan and player character from Fire Emblem: Three Houses debuts as the fifth downloadable character in the Fighters Pass. In battle, Byleth uses a variety of weapons called the Hero's Relics. These include his standard sword-whip hybrid, dubbed the Sword of the Creator, Dimitri's lance Areadbhar, Edelgard's axe Aymr, and Claude's bow Failnaught. Byleth's Final Smash, Progenitor God Ruptured Heaven, strikes any nearby opponent with the whip with assistance from the Progenitor Goddess Sothis. Like Robin and Corrin, both male and female variants can be selected with alternate costumes referencing key figures from Three Houses. Byleth was released on January 28th, 2020 along with Garreg Mach Monastery and its 11 music tracks and Spirits as part of Challenger Pack 5.

Lyn: Returning functionally unchanged from past titles, she performs Quick Draw on a random opponent. Her design has been updated to fit with the rest of the Fire Emblem cast, whose designs tend to draw from more recent Fire Emblem titles. Can be damaged and KO'd.

Tiki: A new Assist Trophy and based on her appearance from Awakening; she uses a Dragonstone to transform into a dragon and breathes fire across a wide area. Can be damaged and KO'd.

Black Knight: A new Assist Trophy; he moves slowly but can take up a large amount of damage while dealing massive damage with single close-range sword swings. Can be damaged and KO'd.

Every Fire Emblem stage from past titles return with one new stage added as DLC.

Castle Siege: Returning from Brawl as a retro stage with a considerable graphical overhaul.

Arena Ferox: Returning from Smash 3DS as a retro stage with a major graphical overhaul.

Coliseum: Returning from Smash Wii U as a retro stage with a minor graphical overhaul.

Garreg Mach Monastery: A stage based on the location of the same name from Fire Emblem: Three Houses. It cycles through certain locations of the monastery, and some party members and major characters make cameos in the background.

"Coliseum Series Medley": A medley of two arena themes, including "Arena (Match)" from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, and "Arena - Battle" from Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. Returns from Smash for Wii U.

"Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem Medley": A medley of themes from Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, including "Advance", "Attack", "Defense", and the Fire Emblem Theme. Returns from Smash for Wii U.

"Meeting Theme Series Medley": A medley of various recruitment themes from the series, including "Story 5 - Meeting" from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, "Comrades" from Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, "Recruitment" from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, and "In the Chapter ~ Joining a Group" from Fire Emblem: Tharcia 776. Returns from Smash for Wii U.

"Code Name: F.E.": The theme that plays on the title screen when a Fire Emblemamiibo is scanned in, sourced from Code Name: S.T.E.A.M., which itself is a remix of the Fire Emblem Theme and "Winning Road - Roy's Hope".

"Lords-A Chance Encounter": The theme that plays when a Fire Emblem character is present in a battle, sourced from Code Name S.T.E.A.M., which itself is a remix of "Story 2: The Beginning of Each Map" from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.

"March To Deliverance": The player-phase map theme for Alm's army during Act 3, sourced from from Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, which itself is an arrangement of "Alm Map 1" from Fire Emblem: Gaiden.

"Lords-Showdown": The theme that played when all four Fire Emblem characters are in a battle, sourced from Code Name: S.T.E.A.M., which itself is a medley of "Fight 1" from Fire Emblem: Gaiden, and "Together we Ride" from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.

"Those Who Challenge Gods": The player-phase battle theme from Act 5 onward, sourced from Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, which itself is a remix of the same track from Fire Emblem: Gaiden.

"Eternal Bond": The map theme for several chapters played from the perspective of Ike and the Greil Mercenaries in Part 3, most prominently used in Chapter 4 and the Endgame, sourced from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.

"The Devoted": The player-phase battle theme for all of Ike's Chapters until Chapter 11, sourced from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.

"Time of Action": The battle theme for the Apostle's Army, sourced from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.

"Victory! Fire Emblem": A cover of several bars of the Fire Emblem Theme from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light. In Ultimate the tempo is faster and the ending is abridged compared to previous titles. Used for Marth, Roy, and Ike.

"Victory! Awakening": A short orchestral cover of the beginning of "Id (Purpose)" from Fire Emblem Awakening. Used for Chrom, Lucina, and Robin.

"Victory! Fates": A remix of a small excerpt of "Lost in Thoughts All Alone" from Fire Emblem Fates. Used for Corrin.

"Victory! Three Houses": A short instrumental cover of "Edge of Dawn (Seasons of Warfare)" from Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Used for Byleth.

Marth was included as an unlockable playable character in Melee and Brawl and later became a starter character in Smash 4. His inclusion, along with Roy's, gave the series the worldwide exposure that led to the decision to release future Fire Emblem installments globally.

The Falchion, Marth's primary weapon, debuted in this game, and its design in the Super Smash Bros. series matches its appearance in this game and in Mystery of the Emblem.

One of Marth's costumes is based on Camus.

Marth, Roy, and Lucina's Final Smash is the "Critical Hit", based on a random percentage algorithm mechanic from the game that, if triggered, deals triple the usual damage inflicted.

One of Robin's costumes is based on Anna, who debuted in this game.

Marth's purple costume is based on his design in this game.

Stages:

: A stage based on the continent of the game was originally intended to appear in Melee. It was, however, unfinished and cannot be properly accessed even with a hacking device.

: The main hero, Roy, was included as an unlockable playable character in Melee to promote the game's then-upcoming release in Japan. His inclusion, along with Marth's, gave the series the global exposure that led to the decision to release future Fire Emblem installments worldwide.

: Roy received new costumes based on Marcus, Zephiel, and Cecilia.

Items:

: The Killing Edge's shape is taken from this game.

Music:

: "Winning Road - Roy's Hope" A remix of the player phase map theme played when three or less enemies remain in a chapter. A slightly modified version of this song also appears in Fire Emblem (The Blazing Blade) with a near-identical function.

: "Beyond Distant Skies - Roy's Departure": A remix of the player phase theme for chapters 1-8, 15, and 16.

One of Awakening's several DLC map packs is entitled "Smash Bretheren" as an allusion to Fire Emblem's presence in the Super Smash Bros. series. The maps' story revolves around Chrom's encounter with the wandering Einherjar armies of Roy and Ike, both sporting their original respective designs. One of the rewards upon completion is the Einherjar card for Lyn, who sports a completely new design from her original appearance.

: Corrin, the default player Avatar and main protagonist of this installment, appears as a downloadable fighter.

Music:

: "Lost in Thoughts, All Alone", the main theme of the game, receives an instrumental remix. The original, abridged, lyrical versions also appear in the Wii U version, though are region locked. Ultimate would allow both to be heard.

: The same theme received a new remix that also contains elements of the final boss theme.

amiibo characters of Marth, Ike, Robin, and Lucina appear as recruitable units. As the Avatar converses with them, they will subtly allude to their appearances in Super Smash Bros. 4. This game also marked the core series debut of Marth's English voice actor, Yuri Lowenthal, after previously voicing him in the Intelligent Systems-developed Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. the year before.

: Byleth (both genders as fighter spirits), Edelgard, Dimitri, Claude (all three having both versions before and after the five-year time skip in the game), Dorothea, Ingrid, Hilda, Rhea, Seteth, and Sothis appear as Spirits.

As of version 7.0.0 in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Fire Emblem has the most number of unique victory fanfares in a single universe, with four in total.

Fire Emblem is one of four series not to have a home stage for a fighter in the installment it was first included in, the other three being EarthBound, F-Zero, and R.O.B.

This was technically the case for Wii Fit and Duck Hunt as well, as neither series received a stage in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS at launch; however, the Duck Hunt stage would later become DLC for the 3DS version.

Fire Emblem is the only universe introduced in Melee to have multiple characters.

Fire Emblem universe characters share the most move names with characters from other universes.

Counter, which is the name of Marth, Roy, Ike, Lucina, and Chrom's down specials, is also the name of Palutena's down special.

Thunder is the name of Robin's neutral special and Pikachu's down special.

Flame Sword is the name of Roy's up smash and Mega Man's forward aerial.

Fire Emblem Awakening has the most representatives from a single game in Smash, with 3. It is also the only Fire Emblem game that has more than one character represent it in Smash.

Fire Emblem is the only first party universe to have more characters than stages for a franchise with more than one character.

Fire Emblem is the first major universe in Smash Bros. history to feature content from upcoming games prior to their releases, that being Roy before appearing in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. It is also the only universe to have a playable character debut in a Super Smash Bros installment before appearing in a game of its own universe.

It is also one of the five major universes to have featured material from upcoming games, the other four being Mario, Wario, Yoshi and Metal Gear.

Counting DLC Spirits in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, The Legend of Zelda has also contained content from an upcoming game in the form of Spirits based on the Link's Awakening remake.

Additionally, while it should be noted that Corrin and Byleth were added as downloadable content after the release of their games, both Fates and Three Houses were released after SSB4 and Ultimate respectively.

Fire Emblem and Yoshi are also the only two universes to feature content from more than one upcoming game - in this case, Roy and the English version of Lost in Thoughts All Alone.

Fire Emblem is one of three universes to feature a weapon as its icon. The other two are Kid Icarus and Xenoblade Chronicles.

Fire Emblem is the only universe not of the original 10 or new to Ultimate to receive a new stage in Ultimate.

Fire Emblem is the only universe thus far to have characters as downloadable content in both SSB4 and Ultimate.

Fire Emblem is the third universe with DLC characters to not have corresponding downloadable Mii costumes in Ultimate, following Banjo-Kazooie and Fatal Fury.

Fire Emblem is the first preexisting universe to have DLC as part of a Fighters Pass in Ultimate.

The original Super Smash Bros. was the only game to not introduce at least one Fire Emblem fighter.

However Marth was intended to appear in the first game.

The Fire Emblem characters with a certain trait shares the same Classic Mode unlock column in Ultimate; the characters who are blood-related to Marth are located in Yoshi's column, the Avatar characters are located in Kirby's. Roy and Ike, who share neither of traits, are located in Mario's.